Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot,Gunpowder Plot: the arrest of Guy FawkesHulton Archive/Getty Images(1605), the conspiracy of English Roman Catholics to blow up Parliament and King James I, his queen, and his oldest son on November 5, 1605. The leader of the plot, Robert Catesby, together with his four coconspirators—Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Guy Fawkes—were zealous Roman Catholics angered by James’s refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics. They apparently hoped that the confusion that would follow the murder of the king, his ministers, and the members of Parliament would provide an opportunity for the English Catholics to take over the country.